


She Calls His Name With Flowers

by SecondFromTheRight



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Curtis' POV, F/M, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 10:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13211430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecondFromTheRight/pseuds/SecondFromTheRight
Summary: Looking at the flowers left on the grave of Maria and the kids, Curtis assumes the blonde woman standing there was a friend of Maria's. A close one, considering it’s Christmas and she’s here alone instead of with her own family.Curtis meets Karen at the Castle graves and later asks Frank about her.





	She Calls His Name With Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> I'd noticed that some of my readers appreciate Curtis as much as I do, so I thought I'd try a Curtis POV.
> 
> Also, from my own experiences, cemeteries are like, so not quiet places on Christmas Day.

Looking at the flowers left on the grave of Maria and the kids, Curtis assumes the blonde woman standing there was a friend of Maria's. A close one, considering it’s Christmas and she’s here alone instead of with her own family.

“Sorry to disturb you.” He says quietly as he approaches her from behind. She still jumps anyway, quickly turning around to face him.

“Jesus,” she proclaims with a hand on the neck of her coat as she takes a breath, closing her eyes to compose herself. Jumpy woman, for Christmas. It’s not like it’s quiet here either. There’s people throughout the grounds visiting their dead loved ones. “Sorry, was away in my own head.” She apologises.

“No thing,” he dismisses with a shrug, as casual as he can. “You a family friend?” he asks nodding towards the pair of graves. He thinks her voice sounds almost familiar but he's sure he doesn’t know her, but that doesn’t mean much.

“Uh,” she follows his eyeline, looking at the stones. “I know… _I knew_ …Frank.” She finishes quietly, and pipping his interest with the sentiment with which she says Frank's name.

“Oh, sorry, I thought maybe you were a friend of Maria's. Your kids were friends with Lisa and Frank Jr. or something, maybe.” He offers. He’s digging, but he’s gotten so used to trying to suss everybody out. She could be anybody. Since everything went down, since the whole world was again informed of the secret he had known, that Frank Castle is alive, Curtis has tried to check out a bit. The pressure of the secret is gone in some ways, and there’s no mess Frank seems to be involved in anymore, but it doesn’t mean he’s an idiot.

“No, I don't have..." she swallows and turns back to the graves. "I just wanted to put some flowers down. Christmas, I thought…” she trails off again as she looks at the flowers she’s left, then her eyes shift to look at Frank’s and Curtis watches her face change with it. Curtis sees a lot of emotional pain from people, he asks people to lay it out to him and trust him with it and often they do. It’s not exactly grief on her face, but it is pain. Loss, maybe.

“But not for Frank?” he prods, still keeping his voice casual as he can.

“I’m sorry?” she turns back to him, now just frowning in confusion at him.

“There’s only flowers on the family one.” He points out, a small smile on his face that he hopes is friendly enough to push her.

“I didn’t know there was a stone for Frank. There didn’t used to be.” She says quietly, a frown still on her face as she dips her head, looking down at the snow on the ground. Her hair falls with the movement and she tucks some of it behind her ear.

“I had one made. Thought he should have one.” Curtis tells her, making her look at him again. He watches her shift again, and this time it’s through her whole body. She tenses, right in front of him, all walls going up. The loss on her face is gone and now she just looks cautious – of him. Curtis wants to laugh at that. She’s at the family graves of The Punisher – of Frank Castle, at that – and she’s afraid of Curtis? Unless she just realised she’s been caught being nosey or something and thinks he’s going to tell Frank. Curtis doesn’t enjoy seeing people afraid, he works his ass off to help people, but there is some amusement at the effect Frank Castle can have on people. He appreciates it to a point still because it’s a Frank effect, not solely a Punisher effect.

“Sorry, who did you say you were?” she asks, the suspicion and curiosity and maybe even possible resentment is beyond obvious as she wonders about him now.

“Didn’t. Curtis Hoyle,” he offers his hand which she takes and shakes, her leather gloves against his padded ones. Not once does she look away from his eyes and Curtis finds his opinion of her potentially shifting again. “I served with Frank.” He divulges, mostly to see how she reacts to that information.

“Oh,” she replies with some airiness she didn’t have before. “Well that was nice of you – to get a gravestone.” She adds with polite friendliness, a sweet smile on her face and a small nod as she still meets his eyes. He almost forgets he was wondering if she was genuinely grieving Frank not two minutes ago.

“I didn’t catch your name, Ma’am.” He smiles back at her but yet again, she’s a display of humanity a couple of foot in front of him. Curtis can practically see her withdraw before his eyes and he’s sure it’s about the title he called her, though he doesn’t get why. She keeps her smile on her face but it’s even more forced now.

“I should go,” she says and Curtis knows when he’s been denied. It almost feels like an order. He’s being told that she’s going, this conversation is over and he has to accept it. Any fear he thought she might have had about being here has gone. As is any assumption Curtis had that she was a nosey, naïve someone who had stumbled onto something she’d regret. Who the hell is she? “Uh, Merry Christmas.” She adds with some sincerity but it’s also a dismissal and one on her terms.

“Merry Christmas.” He responds, talking to her back as she starts to walk away.

Curtis watches her. She turns around once but Curtis is convinced she looks at Frank’s grave before she looks at him.

 

 

It’s almost a week later that he sees Frank, on the 30th. The last group meeting of the year and damn if Curtis isn’t happy to see the year go. If he can go without getting beaten up next year, he’ll be happy. Maybe even an uptake on his insurance sales as an extra.

“You didn’t speak tonight.” He points out to Frank as he walks over to help him put the chairs away. Frank’s already done most of the clean up while he was saying goodbye the others, wishes of Happy New Year’s all around.

“Not feeling it, I guess.” Frank explains, finishing with the final chairs and not looking at him.

“I stopped by the graves on Christmas. Yours and Maria's, the kids.” Curtis tells him and finally he reacts, his body halting, a slight jerk at the news.

“Thanks, Curt,” Frank says quietly, his head down. “Thanks, for…for visiting them.” There’s still so much grief about him, so much carefulness sometimes.

“You had a visitor too.” Curtis tells him and Curtis is actually reminded of that woman a week ago by the way he reacts. He stiffens, all suspicion as he looks at Curtis. Doesn’t even ask for more detail, just looks at him with a frown full of expectations that Curtis will tell him. “Well, she was putting flowers down for the others, but she said it you she knew.”

“Name?” he demands.

“She wouldn’t give it. Blonde. Tall, like 5'10',' maybe. And slim.” Curtis describes the nameless woman and the comparisons keep coming with Frank’s reaction. Everything changes. He straightens up and leans back, almost like he’s going to fall. Curtis eyes trail down to his neck, can see his breathing picking up even though he can’t hear it – Frank wouldn’t show it. And he’s looking around the room, but taking nothing in. He looks…vulnerable. He’s seen that sort of look on him before and Curtis is wondering if he should have kept quiet. “She bad news, Frank?” he asks.

“No,” he dismisses the possibility quickly, looking back at Curtis. “She…” then his focus switches again. “I gotta go, Curt.” He says as he starts to stride out the room. What the fuck?

“Hold up,” Curtis almost yells at him, thankful that Frank actually stops. “You’re not gonna give me anything here? What’s going on, Frank?” he asks losing patience. He’s kept every secret of Frank’s that he could – how could there be more? How can he know nothing about whatever the hell this is?

“She…we…” Frank hangs his head, bringing his hands together in front of them like he's desperate for something to hold onto.

“ _We?_ ” Curtis picks up on because how can he not? Frank Castle as been lone Frank Castle for a long-ass time. In some ways, the entire time Curtis has known him. Frank Castle against the whole world. Now it's 'we' again? Curtis runs through his meeting with the woman, trying to figure out something he’s missed to explain what this is. “How do you know her?” he asks outright when he can’t think of anything definite. He doesn’t even know what he’s thinking. She hasn’t come up once since Frank's family died and there’s no way Curtis would believe Frank would ever mess around on Maria with another woman, so when and how does he know this person?

“It’s complicated.” Frank tries for. Curtis scoffs at that. It’s not helping his thinking at all.

“Never thought I’d hear that line from you.” Curtis says with some judgement. Has he really met someone? When?

“Yeah, well.” Frank replies, still looking down at his hands but there’s a small, wry smile on his face that deflates Curtis’ frustration. He can’t attack something that softens Frank like that. He’s been trying so hard to get Frank to embrace something of life and by that, Curtis wonders if he has found something.

“Not gonna tell me about it, huh?” Curtis sighs softly, trying to be understanding. The smile turns into something tender that Curtis hasn’t seen on Frank’s face for a long, long time.

“Not sure I’d know where to start, Curt.” Frank says quietly as he meets his eyes again, the smile still there. “Happy New Year, Curtis.” He nods at him.

“Happy New Year, Frank. Take care of yourself.” Curtis replies as he watches Frank leave and he can’t help think of the way the woman left their conversation too, with a happy holiday season's wish before she walked away from him.

 

 

When he doesn’t show up for the next meeting, Curtis calls him.

“Yeah?” Frank answers after a few rings. Then Curtis hears a female voice in the background, distant but clear and he’s sure he recognises it this time.

_“I don’t know why you like this thing.”_ The woman says.

“It’s traditional.” Frank defends and Curtis stays silent and just listens.

_“It’s ugly,”_ she says with a laugh. _“Thank god it’s going away. It’s a star next year.”_ She adds, closer now.

“Oh that right? Here I thought this was a joint, team-effort tree we had.” Frank replies and there’s straight up teasing in his voice that almost stuns Curtis. Something like happiness.

_“Yes, which I so generously allowed to be topped by that thing for a whole week,”_ she teases right back. She sounds so similar and so different than Curtis remembers, the joy in the pitch of her voice new to him. _“I get a star next year!”_ She yells as she gets more distant over the phone. Frank chuckles, almost hums.

“Frank.” Curtis interrupts.

“Shit. Sorry, Curt,” Frank apologises as he apparently remembers he’s on the phone. “Hey, what’s up?” he asks, casual in a way Frank typically is not.

“Was just checking in. You weren’t in group.” Curtis explains, not commenting on what he can hear in the background, or the ease of his friend’s attitude. Not yet, wondering what Frank will give up by himself.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Been busy. I’ll be there on Friday.” Frank replies. _‘busy’_ , huh? What a dick.

“Good New Year, was it, Frank?” Curtis questions with a smile, trying not to openly laugh as he teases the other man.

“Not too bad, Curt, yeah.” Frank says with his own smile in his voice.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year, Kastle fans!
> 
> Thank you for all the support of my Kastle fics :)
> 
> <https://secondfromtheright.tumblr.com/>


End file.
